7 News Belize

Eric Chang Stripped Of Deputy Post + Portfolios
posted (October 17, 2013)
Deputy Mayor Eric Chang left Belize for Taiwan on September third - and six weeks later, he still hasn't returned. That is after he said he'd be back on October 3rd. When he didn't show, his boss, Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley wrote to him saying he had to be back by October 11th, or else! Well the 11th came and went, with Chang only calling the mayor to ask for an indefinite extension. The mayor didn't accept it, and today the City Council met to decide Chang's fate.

They decided to recall him as deputy Mayor on the basis that his prolonged absence was a "prejudice to the governance and order of the city." The mayor told us that - with the allegation of Chang's involvement in the Citizen Kim scandal - and his unexcused absence, the council had to act:..

Mayor Darrell Bradley

"I had written him, we had a telephone conversation and he indicated to me that he couldn’t give me a time frame when he would return to the City and definitely he could not come back by Friday of last week. I indicated to him that that was unacceptable and that the council needed to move on and by moving on I mean that the council will reconvene again and we will make a determination whether or not his absence is causing a prejudice to the governance and order of the City which we deemed this morning at the council meeting that it was."

"The council voted unanimously to select somebody else as deputy mayor particularly because we require that the deputy mayor be within the jurisdiction. I ask him to come back, he did not come back. I wanted to make it clear that we are still not able to make any determination in relation to his involvement apparent or otherwise in relation to the immigration issue. We still don’t have a report. We don’t have him giving an account of what had transpired even to exonerate himself and it’s still unclear as to what we are done and the inquiries that we have made what his involvement is."

"We took the line that we require our deputy mayor to be in Belize. He collects a salary as deputy mayor, he has an office as deputy mayor, he holds a very key position as deputy mayor in terms of discharging some functions. When I am out of the jurisdiction I need that person to act as mayor and it’s unsatisfactory that as mayor I can’t get an indication from him when he will return."

Jules Vasquez
"At what point will his seat as a councilor be deemed to have been vacated?"

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"There are certain provisions in the City Council act that deals with missing of certain meetings. There are certain provisions in the act that giving excuse absences, giving leave of absences, those kinds of things. We are monitoring those things very carefully. After the meeting I communicated by email to Eric again to advise him in relation to what transpired and to advise him still that notwithstanding the decision of the council to remove him as deputy mayor. He is still an elected official and he owes an obligation to members of the public to return to the jurisdiction as quick as possible."

"One of the things that is concerning to me is the fact that it inhibits our ability to move forward as a city because you have this cloud around the council and around the central government in relation to the immigration scandal. For example we can’t talk about streets, we can’t talk about then good works that we were doing. He has absented himself from the jurisdiction."

"It is important for us to re-focus ourselves back on our core mandate which is infrastructure, improving the quality of life for Belize City and delivering on our commitment in terms of governance and accountability and those have to be our primary concern. Having to answer a lot of questions in relation to where is Eric Chang being outside of the jurisdiction when you should be in Belize discharging your functions as deputy mayor. That’s something that we can’t tolerate."

"We have commence our own review. We take this decision given the considerations that his name was called in this and also primarily because of his prolong absence. I raised the allegations with Councilor Chang when we spoke on the phone, he didn’t respond in any kind of way that was substantial or credible. He indicated that the reason for him being outside had nothing to do with this it was personal, it was going to family members being taken ill and he had to be where he was."

"I frame this in the way that we frame it because of that absence that we are taking this decision because we require our deputy mayor to be within Belize. I think the issue with this immigration is troubling. It’s troubling for me as a citizen of Belize. I would want there to be sufficient information release to the public, a thorough investigation done not because I am mayor, not because I am a member of the United Democratic Party, but it is important for me as a citizen to know what has transpired."

"We are friends with Eric Chang. We are very close, we are a small council, we are a young council and we hang out a lot and we get along very well. That does not in any way mean however that we will harbor any of our colleagues in doing anything that we think demeans the office of councilor or affects our ability to govern effectively."

"Even if Eric Chang is 100% exonerated from all of these things, the fact that there is this loaming cloud over him at this present moment inhibits our ability to deal effectively at a council. So, we must act and we must act at this present moment and that is compounded by the fact that he is absent and he himself has not chosen to respond."

BQ Pitts Jr was unanimously voted Deputy Mayor at today’s meeting.  The portfolio of works and zoning and planning formerly held by Chang have been split up amongst Dean Samuels who gets the works portfolio, and Kevin Singh who takes over zoning and planning.

Chang is now a city councilor without portfolio - and continues to receive a councilor's salary - which is a demotion, since he had been receiving the Deputy Mayor's salary - a difference of about $850.00 dollars a month.

The Belize City Council Act specifies that any councilor who is “absent without leave or other reasonable cause from four consecutive meetings of the Council;” will be deemed to have vacated their seat.  In that event, the vacancy would be filled by holding a bye-election.

In fairness, we should note that in past council administrations, a number of councilors have effectively vacated their seat but no one bothered to call their seats vacant.

All that aside, credible reports say Chang plans to return next week.

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